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Ex-Gov. Carcieri: RI could have aided 38 Studios

Don Carcieri, the former Rhode Island governor, said he takes responsibility for approving the 38 Studios deal. Stew Milne/Associated Press/File 2008

PROVIDENCE — Former Rhode Island governor Don Carcieri said Thursday that the state could have done more to save former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s now-failed videogame company once he left the governor’s office and Governor Lincoln Chafee took over.

In his first in-depth interview since 38 Studios’ collapse, Carcieri told WPRI-TV that he takes responsibility for the $75 million loan guarantee given to the company by the state’s economic development agency. He said a ‘‘big part’’ of the blame for the company’s failure must go to Schilling and the company’s management, but he questioned whether the state — under the leadership of Chafee — did enough to help the company stay afloat.

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‘‘I will take responsibility for approving the deal,’’ said Carcieri, a Republican. ‘‘What I don’t know, and I question, is did it fail because it just needed some more money, or did it fail because they (38 Studios managers) didn’t know what they were doing . . . That doesn’t look like what happened.’’

The company was lured to Rhode Island from Massachusetts in 2010 after Rhode Island offered a $75 million loan guarantee the state said would help bring hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue. Chafee and others criticized the loan guarantee at the time. The company laid off its nearly 300 employees in May and filed for bankruptcy in June, potentially leaving the state on the hook for some $100 million.

Chafee, an independent, took issue with Carcieri’s comments, saying that while he had deep concerns about the deal before he took office, he did everything he could to support 38 Studios when he became governor. He said the deal should never have been approved. ‘‘This was such a risky deal to start with,’’ Chafee said, adding Schilling was ‘‘someone who had never even run a lemonade stand.’’

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Carcieri said the state should have looked for ways to help the company and that giving them film tax credits to help leverage private investment ‘‘might have been the right thing to do.’’

Chafee defended his administration’s decision not to grant the credits, which 38 Studios sought to stay afloat. He said he could not support more incentives without some indication that it could be viable.